Making India: colonialism, national culture and Indian english literature

India today is almost completely unrecognizable from what it was at the eve of the colonial conquest. A sovereign nation, with a teeming, industrious population, it is an economic powerhouse and the world’s largest democracy. The question is how did it get to where it is now?

Covering the period from 1800 to 1950, this study of about a dozen makers of modern India iS a valuable addition to India’s cultural and intellectual history. More specifically, it shows how through the very act of writing, often in English, Indian society was radically reconfigured. Writing itself became endowed with a charismatic authority, which continued to influence generations, long after the author’s death.

By examining the life and works of the makers of contemporary India, this study assesses their relationship with British colonialism and Indian traditions. Through debate, dialogue, conflict, confrontation and reconciliation, India struggled not only with British colonialism, but also with itself and its own past, thus giving rise to a uniquely Indian version of liberalism and modernity. The religious and social reforms that laid the groundwork for the modern sub-continental state were proposed and advocated in English by prominent native voices. Merging culture, politics, language and literature, this pathbreaking volume adds considerably to our understanding of a nation that looks set to achieve greater heights in the coming decades.

This book offers a fascinating gateway into the rich tapestry of ideas, aspirations and narratives which undergird the formation of independent India. As Paranjape shows, India’ emergence from colonial rule was not so much a linear process, but rather the result of multiple, sometimes overlapping and sometimes conflicting, social-political imaginaries. One intriguing feature of his account is the accent On the role played by English speaking and writing Indians dubbed here ‘Indian English Authority’during successive generations from Ram Mohan Roy to Tagore, Aurobindo, and Gandhi.
– Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame